* Owned by IndianOil LNG, Ennore is India’s fifth operational LNG terminal

Qatargas has supplied a commissioning liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo for India’s newest LNG receiving terminal, Ennore, near the southern Indian city of Chennai.
The commissioning cargo was delivered onboard the vessel ‘Golar Snow’ on February 25 by the Swiss commodity trader, Gunvor, to the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which owns and operates the 5mn tonnes per annum (mtpa) terminal. Qatargas sold the cargo free-on-board (FOB) basis to Gunvor.
The import facility - at Kamarajar port in Thiruvallur district at the outskirts of Chennai - is owned by IndianOil LNG, a joint venture of IOC, private equity fund IDFC Alternatives and ICICI Bank, according to IndianOil LNG’s website.
Ennore will be India’s fifth operational LNG terminal and the first LNG terminal on the East Coast of India. Once fully commissioned, it will provide regasified LNG to anchor customers, including Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Madras Fertilisers and Manali Petrochemicals.
Qatar has established a strong partnership with India since July 1999 when Qatargas started supplying LNG to Petronet. Since then, it has delivered over 1,500 cargoes under its various long-term sales and purchase agreements as well as supplying significant volumes into the short-term/spot market.
India is a key market for Qatargas given its geographical proximity and growth potential. In addition to the Ennore Terminal, terminals located at Mundra and Jaigarh are also due to be commissioned in the near future as well as a host of other gas related infrastructure projects.
These additional terminals will increase India’s capacity to import LNG from 30mtpa to 44mtpa – a 46% increase as India continues to make strides in achieving its ambitious target of 15% gas in the energy mix.
Since the first production in 1996, Qatargas has delivered cargos to 31 countries and also operates the Jetty Boil-Off Gas facility, Al Khaleej Gas, two Helium Plants, the two Laffan Refineries (among the largest condensate refineries in the world), and the Ras Laffan Terminal.